Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/359

Rh "model settlement" which stretches away down the river in rows of solid brick buildings, and eventually noisy, smoking cotton mills towards Wu-sung and the sea, stands a prettily executed monument in stone. The passer-by learns from an inscription that it was erected in memory of Augustus Raymond Margary, who died a violent death in the wild regions of far-away Yün-nan in February 1875, whither he had proceeded, under orders of the strictest secrecy, on a mission to which the Government attached the greatest importance. "I started off with a heavy heart," he wrote in his diary on August 24th. "Passing by the club, which was flaring with gas at every window, I saw the white-coated figures of the late birds, some poring over the mail papers in their luxurious library, others finishing up their billiards in a higher storey. I hurried on like a fugitive, and hid my face from one or two friends strolling home from a dinner somewhere, for I did not want to waste time in explanations, or to be hindered by post-prandial larks. It was